Committee on Committees

The Committee on Committees (COC) consists of nine members elected for a three year term by the entire membership of the Association and the Vice President of the PSA who serves as chair and is an ex officio nonvoting member. Each year, three members, one from each division of the PSA (North, South, Central), begin and three end their term of office. The Committee recommends appointments to standing appointed committee of the Association in such manner that the Northern, Southern, and Central regions are represented.

Responsibilities and duties of the committee. The Committee recommends appointments to each non elected committee of the Association in such manner that the Northern, Southern, and Central regions are represented in so far as this is possible.

Duties of the chair. The chair conducts the meeting of the COC which is scheduled at the annual PSA meeting, prepares the agenda, maintains the committee’s file or archive, and passes the archive on to the new chair. The chair also makes certain that committee members are kept informed via email and/or letter of the agenda and the committee’s work during the year between annual meetings. The chair reminds members of the committee of their individual assignments and of time deadlines (see below). The chair also writes the committee’s annual report and sends it to the Secretary by May 1.

Procedures and Calendar of the Committee. Since the decisions of the COC regarding appointment of new members to various PSA committees must be made no later than December 15th, most of the work of the committee will occur via e-mail during the months of September to December. Hence, the work of the COC can occur in two stages. It can commence work at its annual meeting which is held during the annual PSA meeting in March or April and then be completed during the following fall from September to January. New members of PSA committees are appointed in January, and then the new members begin their term at the scheduled meeting of the committee they are appointed to during the annual PSA meeting, which is normally held in March or April. However, the process for any cycle of appointments, should commence during the Committee on Committees annual meeting which takes place during the annual PSA meeting in either March or April (see below).

March-April (During the Annual PSA Meeting) The chair will distribute a list of vacant positions for each PSA standing appointed committee. This list details each committee’s open positions by region (North, South, Central) of the association. The list of open positions along with a complete list of PSA members is sent to the chair of the COC by the Secretary, along with a list of potential committee nominees who have volunteered or been nominated by others. Committee members add to the above list additional names. The goal is to first assemble a fairly complete list of volunteers and others recommended for committee assignments. The list contains not only the names of potential nominees, but also their institutional affiliation, their membership status in the PSA–students or faculty–and the region they are from. Students can be appointed to all PSA standing committees except the Awards Committee. The chair will assign committee members to contact nominees. Currently, the PSA has sixteen standing committees. Each of the nine members of the committee will be assigned from one to three PSA committees and provided the list of potential nominees for each committee vacancy which the COC as a whole has decided upon–ranked in order from first choice to alternate–along with the nominee’s email address and phone number. The chair will keep an accurate account of which committee member has been assigned which committee and the names of potential nominees in ranked order by committee.

September-December The Executive Director/Secretary will send to the chair an updated list of openings for various PSA committees, as well as membership lists, a list of current members of PSA Committees, a list of members who recently volunteered for committee membership. Committee members need to send the names for the committees they are responsible for to the Chair by November 15th. When the entire list has been received for all committees of the PSA, the Chair will then send the entire list via e-mail to each of the Committee on Committee members. If there is approval of the overall list by the committee members, the Chair will then contact each nominee first seeking acceptance of their appointment. If they refuse, the Chair will then contact the alternate or alternates and continue until all open positions on all committees have been filled. The Chair will then send the names of the newly appointed committee members to the Executive Director by December 15th. The Executive Director/Secretary will then send an email to each new member formally informing them of their appointment and indicating to them that their term begins during the PSA annual meeting.

The year following each name indicates the Annual Meeting at which that member completes their service. For example,those who have a (16) following their names complete their service at the end of the 2016 conference in Oakland.

Past-Vice President Dennis Downey, California State University Channel Islands, ChairVice President Mary Virnoche, Humboldt State University, Co-Chair
Brianne Davila (16) Willamette University
Todd Migliaccio (16) California State University Sacramento
G. Reginald Daniel (16) University of California, Santa Barbara
Michelle Inderbitzin (17) Oregon State University
Ynez Wilson Hirst (17) St. Mary’s College
Marisol Clark-Ibanez (17) California State University San Marcos
and three new members to be elected Fall 2015